Recoleta Cemetery

Recoleta Cemetery is the most extraordinary burial ground in the Americas — a miniature city of 4,691 above-ground vaults arranged along tree-lined avenues, housing the remains of Argentina's presidents, generals, Nobel laureates, and oligarchs in marble mausoleums that range from restrained neoclassical to full-blown Art Nouveau fantasy. Walking through Recoleta is like walking through a compressed history of Argentine power and wealth, told in stone.

The most visited tomb belongs to Eva Perón — Evita, the former first lady whose life and death at 33 defined Argentine populism and inspired a musical that made her the most famous Argentine outside of Maradona. Her tomb is modest by Recoleta standards (the Duarte family vault is a simple black marble structure), which creates a strange contrast with the extravagant monuments surrounding it. Fresh flowers are placed on the tomb daily, and the queue to photograph it is a permanent feature of the cemetery.

The cemetery was established in 1822 and quickly became the exclusive resting place of Buenos Aires' elite — being buried in Recoleta was (and remains) a statement of social status, and the mausoleums were designed by the same architects who built the mansions of the neighbourhood above ground. The styles span two centuries of Argentine taste: Greek temples, Gothic chapels, Egyptian obelisks, Art Deco towers, and a few genuinely bizarre structures that defy categorisation. The cemetery is free to enter, and guided tours (available in English) provide the historical context that turns the experience from architecture tour to social history lesson.